On Wednesday, May 13, at 1:20 p.m., Kaleena Weakly was hauling her horse, A Timely Promotion “Peaches”, from her home in Shelbyville, Illinois to Richland Ranch in Auburn, Illinois. She was going to travel over an hour to have a shoe tacked on by the farrier. Just three miles from her destination she came upon wet pavement. The Sooner trailer she and Peaches had won for the 2007 AQHA All-Around Amateur award, fishtailed on the wet pavement, then jack knifed the driver’s side of the truck, flipped the truck and put the trailer on its side and slid into a muddy cornfield facing the opposite direction.
“It was the scariest thing ever!” said Weakly. “If it hadn’t been for the muddy field which allowed for a much ‘softer’ blow, the cab of the truck would have suffered much worse damage!”
Fortunately, Weakly had her seat belt on. Once unbuckled, she was forced to crawl out of the passenger side, due to the sinking of the driver’s side into the mud.
“During the accident all I was thinking about was Peaches and I was scared to look at the trailer when I got out of the truck,” admits Weakly. “About every five minutes Peaches would start thrashing around inside and there was no way I could get to him or even see his status. He is blind now from his cataracts, has been for the last year, so I had no idea what was going through his mind!”
Peaches was in the trailer for almost an hour and a half before the police and helpers were able to get the ramp down, take apart the back end, rear tack, partitions, etc. Peaches’ right hind leg was stuck through the third side window.
[NPI]/Media/4/jpg/2009/5/kaleenatruck.jpg[/NPI]“Once he knew people were close to him, and inside the trailer with him, his thrashing decreased a lot,” explained Weakly. “The Vet from Richland gave him something to calm down, so they didn’t risk any more injuries. Once the path was cleared and his halter was unhooked from the trailer tie, he was able to walk out and only needed some stitches for a cut on his face!!! Surprisingly he also got back in another trailer to make it the rest of the three miles back to Richland.”
According to the police, that stretch of highway is the most dangerous in their county for getting slick when wet .They often close it down in the winter.
“Someone was definitely watching over us from above!!!” said a grateful Weakly. “I would also really like to thank the staff and vets at Richland Ranch and John and Karen Boxell for helping to rescue Peaches. He is still there re-cooperating and I really appreciate their continued support.”
